New Orleans Police Department has booked the mother of child found dead in a New Orleans East lagoon.
"The New Orleans Police Department confirms that detectives have arrested Hilda Vasquez, the mother of 12-year-old Bryan Vasquez, in connection with the investigation into his death," the police department announced Sunday night.
While the Orleans Parish Coroner’s Office determined the cause of the child's death to be drowning with blunt trauma consistent with an alligator attack, detectives say the mother was cruel and negligent.
It was previously reported that Bryan Vasquez got out through a window and was wandering his neighborhood in only a diaper before he went into the water. He was non-verbal and autistic.
Police charged his mother with second degree cruelty to juveniles and negligent homicide.
"This remains an active and sensitive investigation. Our detectives, now working through the Homicide Division, will continue to pursue every fact and every lead," NOPD released.
NOPD Deputy Supt. Nicholas Gernon held a news conference Sunday.
“There has been a pattern of both negligence and abuse over Bryan’s 12 years, and so we believe we can prove that pattern of negligence and abuse lead to a severe injury, undue pain and suffering on his part," he explained.
When he was an infant, DCFS removed Vasquez from his mother. He had a broken skull, fractured legs and a collapsed lung at the time.
The state later returned him to his mother's care.